The Inheritance of the Meek Text: Psalm 37:1-9
Introduction: The Great Land Dispute
We live in an age of perpetual outrage. The righteous look at the world, see the headlines, observe the brazen arrogance of the wicked, and are tempted to a particular kind of acidic indigestion. The ungodly not only prosper, they preen. They flaunt their rebellion against the established order of the cosmos as though they were the first to discover that gravity could be defied by jumping off a cliff. And in response, the saints are tempted to fret. That word fret is a good, earthy word. It means to be consumed, to be eaten away. It’s the spiritual equivalent of rust or moths. It is a slow, hot burn of agitation that accomplishes nothing but to corrode your own soul.
This Psalm, written by David in his old age, is a direct pastoral counter-assault on this temptation. It is wisdom literature, distilled over a long life of seeing wicked men rise and fall like so many summer weeds. David has seen it all. He has seen Saul’s court, with all its paranoia and javelins. He has seen Doeg the Edomite get his promotion. He has seen the scoffers and the schemers have their day in the sun. And now, looking back, he gives us the settled verdict of heaven: Don’t worry about it. Their doom is fixed, and your inheritance is sure.
But this is not a call to quietistic passivity. It is not a tranquilizer. It is a battle plan. The central issue of this Psalm, and indeed of all of history, is the question of inheritance. Who gets the world? Who will own the earth in the long run? Our secularists believe they will, through their political machinations and cultural dominance. The pietists have already spiritually abdicated, content to let the devil have this world so long as they get a cloudy patch of heaven later on. But the Word of God says something entirely different. The meek shall inherit the earth. Not heaven. The earth. This is a central plank of our eschatology of victory. This world belongs to Christ, and He is in the process of taking possession of it through His people. This Psalm is a foundational text for our confident, optimistic, postmillennial faith. It tells us how to conduct ourselves as the designated heirs while the squatters are still throwing their loud, obnoxious, and temporary parties.
So, this passage is intensely practical. It is a series of divine commands that, if obeyed, will guard your heart from the corrosive sin of envy and agitation, and position you to receive the glorious inheritance that God has promised to His children.
The Text
Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers.
For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb.
Trust in Yahweh and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.
Be still before Yahweh and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for Yahweh, they will inherit the land.
(Psalm 37:1-9 LSB)
The Negative Injunction: Stop Fretting (v. 1-2, 7-8)
The Psalm begins and is punctuated with a clear, sharp prohibition. It is repeated three times for emphasis.
"Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb." (Psalm 37:1-2)
To fret is to get heated, to burn with anger or anxiety. It is a spiritual fever. And it is a sin. Notice that this is a command. We are not to treat our anxiety over the state of the world as a mark of spiritual sensitivity. It is disobedience. Why? Because it is a failure to trust in the sovereignty and justice of God. Fretting is a form of functional atheism. It is to act as though God is not on the throne, as though He is wringing His hands, wondering what to do about the latest Supreme Court decision or the godless curriculum in the public schools.
The reason we are not to fret is given immediately. The prosperity of the wicked is temporary. It has the lifespan of cut grass. It looks vibrant and green for a moment, but it has no root. It is already dying. To envy the wicked is like envying a man on death row for his fine last meal. It is a profound failure of perspective. They are not winning; they are withering. Their judgment is not delayed; it is ripening.
David repeats this command later, tying it to the sin of anger. "Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing" (v. 8). This is a crucial diagnostic point. Fretting is a gateway sin. When you allow your heart to simmer in agitated resentment against the success of the ungodly, you are tilling the soil for your own sin. Anxious, envious, angry Christians are Christians who are on the verge of doing something stupid. They will lash out, or despair, or compromise, or engage in some other form of foolishness. A calm heart, trusting in the providence of God, is a fortress. A fretting heart is a city with broken-down walls.
The Positive Commands: A Four-Fold Cord (v. 3-6)
In place of fretting, David gives us a series of four positive, interlocking commands. This is God’s prescription for a stable and fruitful life in a hostile world.
"Trust in Yahweh and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." (Psalm 37:3 LSB)
First, "Trust in Yahweh and do good." Trust is the internal posture; doing good is the external action. The two are inseparable. Right belief must result in right behavior. You cannot say you trust God to sort out the wicked while you sit on your hands and do nothing. Trust is not passive resignation. It is active, obedient confidence. You trust that God is sovereign, and therefore you get to work doing the good He has assigned to you. You plant, you build, you teach, you work, you raise your children in the fear of the Lord. You do the next right thing, right in front of you.
And where do you do this? "Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." This is a command to be rooted. We are not to be spiritual vagabonds, always looking for the next conference or the next spiritual high. We are to inhabit the place God has put us, our family, our church, our town, and be faithful there. The word for cultivate can also be translated "feed on" or "befriend" faithfulness. We are to be steady, reliable, covenant-keeping people. This is how we take the land, not with carnal weapons, but with relentless, generational faithfulness.
"Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4 LSB)
Second, "Delight yourself in Yahweh." This goes deeper than trust. It is to find your ultimate joy, your supreme pleasure, in God Himself. This is the great secret of the Christian life. The world thinks joy is found in acquiring things or experiences. The Bible teaches that joy is found in a person: God. When you delight in Him, a wonderful thing happens. Your desires are sanctified. God does not simply grant your old, carnal wishes. Rather, He transforms your "wanter." He works in you so that the desires of your heart begin to align with the desires of His heart. And when you desire what He desires, you can be sure He will give it to you. He loves to give good gifts to His children, and the best gift is a heart that wants what He wants.
"Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday." (Psalm 37:5-6 LSB)
Third, "Commit your way to Yahweh." The Hebrew word for "commit" is "galal," which means to roll. This is the image of rolling a heavy burden off your own shoulders and onto the shoulders of another. You are to roll your life, your plans, your future, your anxieties, your business, your family, all of it, onto the Lord. Peter says the same thing: "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7). This is an act of decisive surrender. You stop trying to manage the universe and you entrust the outcome to the one who actually can.
And the promise is that "He will do it." He will act. He will bring it to pass. What will He do? He will vindicate you. Your righteousness, now obscured by slander and misunderstanding, will be brought out into the open, as clear and undeniable as the noonday sun. History is the great vindicator of the saints. In the short term, the righteous are often misunderstood. But in the long run, their faithfulness is revealed, and God makes their cause shine.
The Great Promise: Inheriting the Land (v. 9)
The Psalm culminates in the great promise that frames the entire passage. This is the payoff. This is why we don't have to fret.
"For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for Yahweh, they will inherit the land." (Psalm 37:9 LSB)
Here is the stark contrast. The evildoers, for all their temporary prosperity, have a future that consists of being "cut off." Their story ends. But for those who wait for Yahweh, their story is just beginning. To wait for the Lord is not to be passive. It is the active, expectant patience of a farmer who has planted his seed and waits for the harvest. It is the patience of an heir who knows his inheritance is secure.
And what is the inheritance? "The land." In the Old Testament, this was the literal land of Canaan. But the promise was always bigger than that. As Paul says, the promise to Abraham was that he would be the heir of the world (Romans 4:13). Jesus picks up this very theme in the Beatitudes, quoting this Psalm: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). This is the great postmillennial promise. History is not cyclical, and it is not spiraling downward into chaos. It is moving toward a glorious climax where the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.
The meek are the ones who inherit it. And who are the meek? They are not the weak, the timid, or the door-mats. The meek are those who have their strength under control. They are the ones who refuse to fret, who trust in God, who do good, who delight in the Lord, and who commit their way to Him. They are the ones who refuse to take matters into their own hands through sinful anger and vengeance, because they know that God will act on their behalf. This meekness is not weakness; it is Spirit-controlled strength. And it is this character, this covenant faithfulness, that God uses to subdue the earth to His Son.
Conclusion: The Long Game
So, the message of this Psalm is a call to play the long game. The wicked are sprinters; they burn out quickly. The righteous are long-distance runners, and they are running toward a guaranteed inheritance.
When you look at the world and your heart begins to heat up with fretful indignation, you must come back to these commands. Are you trusting, or are you fretting? Are you doing good, or are you just stewing? Are you delighting in God, or are you delighting in your own sense of outrage? Have you rolled your burdens onto the Lord, or are you still trying to carry them yourself?
The culture war is not ultimately a political war or a social war. It is a war of worship, and it is a war of character. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty. They are trust, faithfulness, delight, and commitment. This is how we fight. This is how we win. We do not win by becoming like the world, full of anger and wrath. We win by being the meek. And the meek, as it turns out, get everything.
So do not be consumed by the fleeting success of the wicked. They are grass. You are an heir. Act like it. Trust God, do your work, love your family, be faithful in your church, delight in your Savior, and wait for Him. He will act. And He will give you the land.